Loma Linda University students Kathryn Halbritter, Cristian Villegas, and Amber McKeever share how God has worked in their lives.  

Loma Linda University students Kathryn Halbritter, Cristian Villegas, and Amber McKeever share how God has worked in their lives. <p> </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Kathryn Halbritter

Amber Shironishi

Cristian Villegas

Student Testimonies

Father in heaven, we just want to ask for the gift of your Holy Spirit as we tune in this morning and hear the testimonies that Amber and Christian and Catherine have to share.

I just ask that you would please please speak through them to our hearts And we know that you are longing and desiring to do this.

So this is a prayer that's within your will.

We just thank you so much in advance for hearing it.

I believe Amber is actually the first testimony.

It'll be Amber, Christian and then Catherine.

Hi, good morning and happy Sabbath, everyone.

As as a student myself, I was asked to speak to help encourage other students and people in general, who are who are going through the thick of it.

And if I'm being completely honest right now, I am a third year dental student and we are allowed to live a pretty balanced lifestyle.

But I know that it wasn't long ago when I remember what it's like to study into the late hours of the night, to feel a bit guilty about taking an extra long nap or going to the gym for too long.

So there were many times that I prayed for God to help me when I was going through the thick of it.

But there's 1 particular time that sticks out to me the most.

And I know we already prayed, but if we can go ahead and bow our heads and pray again with me, please.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I ask that you please be with me, please be with my nerves.

Lord, help me just to speak as 1 that just wants to share your love and wants to share your blessings this morning.

I ask that your Holy Spirit come into my heart, Lord.

Let it not be my words but let it be your words.

Thank you for your love, dear Jesus, and thank you so much for your Sabbath day.

Okay, so 1 of the times that I remember that I was going through the thick of it, it was the summer of 2017.

I was sitting in Centennial Building, actually, attending an Advent Hope church service, just a few days before taking what seems to be at that time the most important test of my life.

I was about to take the DAT, which is the dental admissions test, to see if I could get into dental school.

And at the time, I was currently living on my friend's couch in Loma Linda, studying for my test.

And being from an island that is 6, 000 miles away from where I was, it was difficult to find a place to call home because of schooling.

It made me move around from place to place.

Out straight out of high school, or shortly after high school, I moved from Guam to Southern Adventist University in Tennessee to do my undergrad schooling.

And then from there, I decided to have my degree in medical laboratory science.

And this required me to move in my senior year to Andrews University in Michigan.

And during for that program, there's actually a practical clinical portion that I had to work in a hospital for a bit.

And so within the past few years, I was living in a couple of suitcases, traveling from Guam to Tennessee, to Michigan, to Florida, and then now I'm in California studying for this test.

And to say the least, I was incredibly nervous about taking this test that all these years of toil and travel would go to waste if I didn't get a great score on this 1 test.

And so I told myself that this test could determine my future, It could determine the rest of my life.

But little did I know that only God can do that.

So back to being myself in 2017, sitting in the audience of Advent Hope, I was listening.

I sat there that morning not knowing that God was going to give me a message that truly, truly touched my heart.

That morning, many of you know Carissa McSherry and she did a sermon entitled No Trial Wasted.

If you haven't listened to it before, I highly recommend you listen to it.

Because that morning, it really touched my heart.

And it really changed my whole opinion on going through trials.

So after hearing her sermon, I was not only encouraged, but I was changed.

It was a change of heart and a change of mindset.

So this morning, I will be sharing with you key lessons that I've learned since that day and at that time in my life.

So if you can go ahead and open your Bibles with me to James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4.

Okay, so it reads, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

So go ahead and just take a look at this verse.

When you read this, what is your first reaction to this, to what this verse is trying to tell us.

I know that my first reaction was, what, how could I count it all joy when I fall into trials?

That is not something that comes natural.

That is not something that comes natural to any of us, I believe.

But here, as we read the verse, this is what we are called to do.

We're going to go ahead and come back to this concept.

But we will go ahead and move forward to our next verse, which is Romans 5, verses 3 to 5.

It reads, And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that the tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.

Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

So we see here through this verse that there is a process to the development of the Christian.

You know, And at times in our lives and in this society in particular, I feel as if we want the quick fix, as if we want some sort of magic pill per se, to have a quick solutions to our problems.

But we see here that there is not a quick fix to character building.

And I realized at this point in my life, all the trials and all the tribulations that I had gone through, I always was so very self-sufficient in a way to try to solve my problems by seeking my own solutions in my own time.

I definitely did not like the concept of waiting.

So when I come upon this verse that tells me that tribulations and perseverance are a prerequisite to character building, I know that naturally I don't like that.

And so as I was breaking this down in my heart and in my mind, I realized that when I pray, I'll pray for example, Lord, you know, please help me to have more patience.

I'll pray for something, a character trait, and expect that God's going to magically somehow grant me patience.

But we don't often realize that through time and through waiting, maybe that's how we gain patience, through tribulations and through trials.

So I knew that there was something that I was missing, something that I was missing when it comes to Christian and character development.

And so we see here, if we break it down, that tribulations bring forth perseverance, and perseverance brings forth character, and character brings forth hope.

So let's continue to see what the Bible has to say more about this concept of going through trials.

Let's all turn to Hebrews 12, verses 5 through 6.

And it says, And it says, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives." So we see here this concept of this father-child relationship with God.

We see here that we are not to despise the chastening.

And chastening, if you look it up and see what it means, it's correction through suffering.

So we are not to despise the chastening of the Lord.

He loves us as a father who wants his children to develop their best character.

As I was pondering this concept of counting it all joy when we fall into trials or realizing that these tribulations bring us character development, as I was pondering that, the story of Moses came to my mind.

And I realized that Although Moses was trained incredibly well from youth to be a leader, to be a military leader, to be really a great man in all aspects of life, God had to actually retrain him for 40 years in the desert and as a shepherd.

And this is where he learned different aspects of his character that he was lacking.

And that was maybe humbleness, patience, waiting upon the Lord before he acted.

And I realized that Sometimes I might be trying to avoid those years in the desert when it's so very necessary in order to fulfill my purpose.

I wanna go ahead and read Ministry of Healing, page 471, and see what 1 of my favorite authors, LNG.

White, has to say about a concept such as this.

So please listen carefully as I read this.

Many who sincerely consecrate their lives to God's service are surprised and disappointed to find themselves, as never before, confronted by obstacles and beset by trials and perplexities.

They pray for likeness of character, Christ's likeness of character, for fitness for the Lord's work.

And they are placed in circumstances that seem to call forth all the evil of their nature.

Faults are revealed of which they did not even suspect the existence.

Like Israel of old, they question, if God is leading us, why do all these things come upon us?

It is because God is leading them that these things come upon them.

Trials and obstacles are the Lord's chosen method of discipline and appointed, let's see, and appointed conditions of success.

He who reads the hearts of men knows their characters better than they themselves know them.

He sees that Some have powers and susceptibilities which rightly directed might be used in the advancement of his work.

In his providence, he brings these persons into different positions and very circumstances that they may discover in their character the defects which have been concealed from their own knowledge.

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